Monday, January 21, 2013

They call me "Mr. Pizza"

Who says I'm an "all or nothing"
personality?

Hucker
just delivered this Hobart 2-shelf pizza oven he had in the
attic.
What's confusing me a little is the shelves are simple steel, and
not that thick. Since you know they do a fine pizza. Hucker says
they do,
and he's a pro. So, I ask myself, since my home oven will get
just as
hot, what's different between that and this? We'll soon find
out.
For now MoSup is just so delighted to have it in her kitchen.
Maybe
I'll put it in the living room and surprise her.

Comments:

Separate
from the White House, John Roberts now leads a Supreme Court that very
clearly can be persuaded by PR campaigns and is now constantly targeted
to do what is right in terms of public relations and not necessarily
the law or constitution. Erick
Erikson

The Hobart won't have a 40º difference between top and bot. If you put your pizza on the top rack of the regular oven, it's the same. I don't do this because I don't like my pizza topping scorched and dried out and looking like Pelosi's face.

"What's confusing me a little is the shelves are simple steel, and not that thick."

Best to consult the pros when facing these 2-dimensional problems. You are dealing with temperature and moisture gradients.

Thickness is the enemy of heat transfer. More steel, stone, whatever means slower heating of the food. It's just insulation. Pizza is flatbread which should bake quickly. So a thin aluminum pan on a rack works best unless …

You need to deal with severe moisture content with lots of pizza toppings. Since I use a relatively cool EZ Bake Oven and load my pizzas like a chef's salad, I bake on a stone which is moisture permeable.

Here is the secret of a great loaded pizza: Use tomato paste. Forget that stupid pizza sauce recipe from America's Test Kitchen. One 6oz can of paste does 2 twelve inchers. Mix the sauce with a little water and chill overnight to bloom the spices. Dial up the contrast with some vinegar and sugar. I dice 1 plumb tomato along with onion, green pepper, roast pork bits, etc. on top. Grated parmesan under the veggies for flavor; mozzarella on top for glue.

Well done Helly, although if I'd thought about it, and looked at the contraption closer I could have saved myself your consulting fee. The magic comes from heating elements on top, and under each shelve. Plus the thing is built like Hitlers bunker.

While I can find a schematic of later versions of the Model 017, I can nowhere find an instruction manual. But then, why would I need one? Plug in, put in dough, take out pizza.!

If you live near a Farm & Fleet store, I highly recommend the Wisco Pizza Pal Plus. $89, but you can get it on sale there for $59. Makes any frozen pizza taste great, just like the old bar back pizza ovens. And it's Made in the USA!